Book Review: Success Through Political Action: Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector

We all know that labor unions in the private sector are in untrammeled decline. From about twenty-five percent in the 1950s, today the percent of employees in the private sector that are members of a labor union is less than nine percent.' It is expected that the decline will continue until union density reaches an equilibrium point of about three percent.' The future is not bright. However, unions in certain industries have been more capable than in others to stop the disorganization of workers. In Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector, a number of industrial relations experts show how the organization of workers has changed in particular industries. On one end of the spectrum, there are professional team sport players and airline pilots enjoying high levels of unionization, while, on the other end, truck drivers and newspaper workers are all but disorganized. The book helps us understand the issues and challenges facing particular labor unions in specific industries of the United States. The editors maintain that the crux of unionization lies in workers' bargaining power.3 Thus, unionism in the private sector is becoming extinct because the bargaining power of unions is in steadfast decline. With no changes in American labor law that would provide more leverage to workers, such as an end to contestable National Labor Relations Board